Plan your weekends with the complete listing of Louisiana festivals

Festival season in south Louisiana is an embarrassment of riches. For eight months -- generally from March through October -- almost every weekend offers music, outdoor fun and delicious food.

MICHAEL DeMOCKER/THE TIMES-PICAYUNEThe crowd circles around trombone player Gerry Orkus of Bobby Lenero and the New Orleans Express during the annual Gretna Heritage Festival on Saturday, October 3, 2009.The causes des celebres are as distinct yet interconnected as the fanning estuaries of the Mississippi River delta: crawfish, rice, black pots, peppers, smoked meats, sugar cane. Each is a vital component of south Louisiana's cultural mix, and, during festival season, each gets its moment to shine.

When done right, topical festivals -- whether they celebrate a crop, a dish or a type of music -- are a lesson in focused overstatement. Should we eat chocolate strawberries, strawberry daiquiris, strawberries and cream, and batter-dipped fried strawberries in the same day?

Probably not, but at the Ponchatoula Strawberry Festival, it's possible.

Some festivals, most notably the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival Presented by Shell, have become multiday institutions that attract international visitors. The majority of the festivals are simply a perfect excuse to relish the richness of local culture while exploring the host communities at their best.

If one afternoon isn't enough to get your fill of a particular south Louisiana festival, plan a weekend getaway around it. Look beyond the Cajun Joke Telling Contest, for example, and you'll find plenty of other reasons to visit Opelousas and its environs.

Flip through this guide to find five ideas for weekend itineraries built around local festivals. Then, share your own ideas at www.nola.com/festivals.

Grand Isle Migratory Bird Festival

April 16-18, Grand Isle

You don't have to be an ornithologist to appreciate the millions of birds that fly over the Gulf of Mexico on their annual migration south. Songbirds, in particular, pay special attention to coastal Louisiana during their trek, as the live oak and hackberry forests of Grand Isle see hundreds of species stop by during peak migration season in April.

The Grand Isle Migratory Bird Festival (grandisle.btnep.org) began in 1998 as a way to celebrate the coast's winged visitors and has turned into both an attraction for seasoned bird-watchers and a wonderful primer for birding newcomers. Backyard open houses, birding tours, island history tours and avian arts and crafts are all on the agenda. Free birding videos and trail maps will be available for enthusiasts who want to explore more of the region's migratory lodgers.

Or, follow the Grand Isle loop of the America's Wetland Birding Trail, which goes from Port Fourchon to Grand Isle and includes several designated birding sites. Access it at www.louisianatravel.com/birding.

Grand Isle State Park, on Admiral Craik Drive, has two piers for fishing and crabbing, as well as a swimming area and a nature trail. There are two campgrounds, one behind the levee and one, open seasonally, on the beach. For information on the park, call 985.787.2559 or 888.787.2559 or visit www.crt.state.la.us. Several B&Bs and motels offer rooms on the beach. To access them, visit www.louisianatravel.com and type in "Grand Isle" under the city search.

Arnaudville Etouffee Festival

April 23-25, Arnaudville

This town sits in the heart of Cajun country, and it's a good starting point for exploring the region. The festival itself, now in its 25th year, will have a cook-off of the signature Cajun dish, as well as a parade on April 24, carnival rides, and a car and motorcycle show on April 25.

After sampling the etouffees, discover the Arnaudville that has become a haven and home to a number of local artists. The Old Town Rural Arts Center (1013 Neblett St., Arnaudville) is a co-op featuring the work of more than 40 artists, spearheaded by painter George Marks. NuNu's Nightlite and Cafe, part of the arts center, hosts weekly Cajun music jam sessions during the day and, often, live music at night. Cajun music lovers also can spend a Sunday afternoon talking and jamming with like-minded folks at Tom's Fiddle and Bow, an instrument restoration shop.

The intersection of Bayous Teches and Fusilier in Arnaudville is a perfect place to stroll among the cypress trees. For more rural tranquility, head eight miles west to Grand Coteau, the country town that's home to stunning live oak canopies, pecan tree groves and beautiful examples of Acadian plantation architecture.

The 189-year-old Academy of the Sacred Heart (1821 Academy St., Grand Coteau), with its stately historic building, gardens and oak alley, is worth a look. One mile away is the Jesuit Spirituality Center (313 E. Martin Luther King Junior Drive, Grand Coteau), a retreat center and college with quiet, pastoral grounds open to unobtrusive strollers.

Across from the grounds is Grand Coteau's main street, which is lined with quaint antique shops and specialty stores, perfect for poking around in. La Caboose, (145 S. Budd St., Sunset), a B&B just two miles away, offers rooms in an adapted railway ticket office, passenger car and caboose.

Chuck Cook / The Times-PicayuneThe Louisiana Bicycle Festival, usually held on Father's Day, took place on Saturday, June 17, 2006, at the UCM Museum in Abita Springs. It featured unusual, decorated bicycles, competitions, food and music. Bikers took a escorted ride through town. A single rider on a chopper and a four-some ride down Level Street in front of Town Hall.Louisiana Bicycle Festival

June 19, Abita Springs

The north shore's Tammany Trace, a 31-mile railway-turned-paved forest path, has become a favorite destination for New Orleanians to escape the urban jungle. So it makes sense that Abita Springs would be the site of the Louisiana Bicycle Festival, which has been around since 2000.

Loosely organized by the Abita Mystery House (22275 U.S. 36, Abita Springs), the wonderfully odd attraction formerly called the UCM Museum, the one-day festival is a showcase for the museum's collection of novelty and art bikes.

Past festivals have featured a bicycle plastered with plastic alligators, a "rocket-powered" bike, a seven-wheel bicycle, restored antique bikes and much more. A bicycle procession through town happens midday, and awards are presented in the afternoon. (Don't take the awards too seriously: The festival's Web site declares that "judges may be bribed -- this is Louisiana" and categories are likely to change, disappear or be created throughout the day.)

While you're there, do your inner child a favor and explore the Abita Mystery House. (The "UCM" of its former name stands for, wait for it, "Unusual Collections and Mini-towns.") Full of, well, unusual collections and miniature molding clay tableaux, along with vintage working arcade games, curiosities galore and other delights that defy description, the museum's $3 entrance fee pays for itself before you even get to the "House of Shards" or the "Bassigator."

Start the morning off with the breakfast of champions, Abita-style, at one of the Abita Brewery Tasting Room's free tours (166 Barbee Road, Abita Springs). If you're at least 21, a valid ID gets you 30 minutes of access to fresh Abita beer while you learn about the company's brewing methods and tour part of the facility.

For more information on the festival, visit www.labicyclefestival.com. If you decide to spend the night, festival folks say some establishments offer discounts for participants.

International Rice Festival

Oct. 14-16, Crowley

Now in its 74th year, the Rice Festival is one of the oldest agricultural festivals in the state and has all the bells and whistles you'd expect: kings and queens, a dedicated Rice Festival dance troupe, a rice-eating contest, a children's parade, and an array of food, crafts and games.

In past years, the festival has had demonstrations of rice milling and sheathing by the LSU AgCenter, accordian and fiddle contests, and a duck-calling contest. The live music lineup regularly boasts an impressive, multiday lineup of local bands such as Wayne Toups, and Leon Chavis and the Zydeco Flames.

Stroll around downtown Crowley and take in the live oaks and ornate Victorian homes. Check out Miller Stadium, a surviving 1940s baseball stadium, and the Grand Opera House of the South (505 N. Parkerson Ave.), built in 1901.

Twenty miles north of Crowley is Eunice, "Louisiana's Cajun Prairie Capital, " which is the place to go for all things Chank-a-Chank. Visit the Prairie Acadian Cultural Center (250 W. Park Ave.), part of the Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve, which offers Cajun music jam sessions, dancing and cooking demonstrations every Saturday afternoon.

At night, go see the "Rendez-Vous des Cajuns, " a weekly Cajun music radio and TV broadcast known as the "Cajun Grand Ole Opry." Delivered mostly in Cajun French, the show blends indigenous music, dancing, stories and jokes, and attracts an equal measure of French-speaking locals and tourists.

Describing itself as the "hottest little festival happening, " the St. Martinville Pepper Festival aims, like its namesake, to pack a big punch in a small package. The one-day festival, hosted by the Kiwanis Club of St. Martinville, assembles the right array of sights, sounds and eats.

In addition to the expected assortment of pepper-related (and just regular Cajun) foods, the festival features perhaps the hardest-to-watch eating contest ever, where participants are given a plate of assorted peppers, from pickled banana to habanero, and must chew and swallow them successfully to win. Ouch.

While in St. Martinville, visit Evangeline Oak Park, named for the heroine first popularized in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's epic poem "Evangeline, " which traces the separation of two betrothed lovers during the exile of the Acadians from Nova Scotia. In a subsequent retelling of the quasi-historical story, laid out in the 1907 "Acadian Reminisces: The True Story of Evangeline, " the heroine is reunited with her Gabriel in St. Martinville under an oak tree, only to learn that he already has married someone else. She goes mad and dies.

After visiting the Evangeline Oak, which overlooks Bayou Teche, stop in at St. Martinville Cultural Heritage Center and visit the Museum of the Acadian Memorial, a perfect way to learn all about the Grand Derangement, or Acadian exile, and the African-American Museum.

Check www.pepperfestival.org as the festival draws closer for updates to this year's schedule. For more information on the memorial, visit www.acadianmemorial.org.

Smokin' Blues & Bar-B-Que Challenge Professional, backyard and children's team compete in the largest barbecue event in the state, also featuring local bands.

Downtown Hammond, 985.345.2490, www.hammondbluesandbbq.com.

March 26-28

Jackson Assembly Antiques Festival and Tour Dealers from across the South exhibit and sell in two historic buildings, plus self-guided historic district tours, seminars, carriage rides and home cooking.

New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival Presented by Shell Continuous music by national acts such as Simon & Garfunkel, Pearl Jam and Aretha Franklin on 12 several stages, contemporary and traditional crafts, food, educational programs.

Bicycle Second Line The Metro Bicycle Coalition sponsors a day-long event where participants are treated to live music on wheels as they cruise through the city and learn about cycling improvements, followed by an after-party at Audubon Park.

Begins and ends in Audubon Park, New Orleans, 504.717.5200, www.mbcnola.org.

San Fermin: Running of the Bulls in New Orleans Food, music, entertainment, the homage to the bull running in Pamplona, Spain, featuring The Big Easy RollerGirls pursuing the runners with plastic bats and the first annual Ernest Hemingway Talent Contest.

Six String Music Musicians' Invitational Festival Tropical style music in the Jimmy Buffett vein; singer/songwriters play for three days and nights at French Quarter venues with auctions to benefit charities.

Plaquemines Parish Fair and Orange Festival The festival returns to its original home this year with a carnival (on Dec 3), food, music, helicopter rides, crafts, citrus displays, orange-eating contests.

Fort Jackson, Buras, 504.398.4434, 504.415.5604, 504.394.3700.

Dec. 4

A Bayou Christmas Cajun Christmas celebration with food, music and Papa Noel.